Cables suspended in the air are repeatedly the target of hunters shooting at birds. In order to protect sensitive optical waveguides (LWL) of optical communication cables against damage by ballistic shot (rounds of shot), in accordance with the prior art the optical waveguides (LWL) in the cable core (KK) are protected by several layers of aramide fabric (AG). In order to obtain a sufficient protective effect, at least two layers of aramide fabric of a strength of 550 g/m.sup.2 are required (see FIG. 1 and list of reference numerals on page 6). For actually fully effective protection, even three layers of aramide fabric are recommended (FIG. 2).
The disadvantage of this solution is the high cost. A cable with a complete ballistic protection of aramide is twice as expensive as a comparable, unprotected cable.